Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Mobile TV on the R line

WRAL, Raleigh partner on nation's first mobile DTV venture.

“Once again, Raleigh is unveiling a technology first,” Mayor Charles Meeker said in a statement. “We are proud to be the pilot to offer mobile digital television to the riders of the Downtown Circulator.

“We salute WRAL for being pioneers in mobile digital television as they were in high definition television,” Meeker said. “We look forward to the day when all of Raleigh’s CAT buses will offer this means of information and relaxation. It’s just another reason to take a CAT bus wherever you go.”

I like Mayor Meeker. I really do. He just announced he's running for reelection, for a fifth two year term. I think he's done a great job in this city in the revitilization of Downtown, in improving public transportation, dealing with the crazy drought we had last year, and recognizing that perhaps Raleigh is growing too fast. I will proudly vote for him for another term.

I have mixed feelings about bringing television into the buses. On one hand, I think it's great bringing information to a certain bus riding population that might not be otherwise exposed to this kind of news. On the other hand, my daily commute to RTP is great when it's silent. In the morning, I don't want to hear a lot of chatter and more often than not, and with the exception of Amy Number One wanting to know if I have my notebook and a pencil, the bus is quiet.

I was also hoping that the R Line would use the monitors to announce the next stop since it can be a little hard to tell where you are, especially at night. I guess I'll have to take a spin and see what's its all about before I make up my mind.

6 comments:

Kristina P. said...

Will they maybe do it with headphones, like on planes? I think it's kind of cool.

Meg said...

Headphones would be too funny! A heavily made up woman in navy blue comes around and offers you headphones for $5 that you can use on the 15 minute ride to Kroger.

CailinMarie said...

oh I am SO over tv in public places. particularly because I'm a tv nazi mom. there are things out there, like the news these days, that my children don't need to SEE. Really - they don't need to see a crime scene in Newport News where so and so shot so and so, or worse, international news where bombs are going off, or whatever. oblivion is such a nice thing.

Shoshanah Marohn said...

I would hate having a t.v. on my bus. Just me, though. I'm of the same mind as Cailin Marie. I don't even like t.v. in hotels, at the breakfast bar. It's too early!

3 Bay B Chicks said...

I am with you on having silence during your morning commute, Meg. Seriously. When I was using public transportation daily (aka the BART train), somedays it was all I could do just to make it through my daily routine. I can't imagine adding additional background noise to the grind.

Oh, and I heart Amy Number One. She always makes me laugh.

-Francesca

Meg said...

I'm not much on TV myself, so I would find this kinda weird. Maybe they'll be doing the TV silent with closed caption subtitles like I've seen in a few public places? Otherwise I bet they'll get a lot of complaints...